• Submitted by: admin
• Science and Technology
• 05 / 22 / 2007

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Cuba has begun a gradual upgrading of Havanas urban transport network, but many of the buses imported from countries with colder climates come with sealed windows.

Now, the COMEG metals business in Guanajay, south of the capital, has started a conversion program to increase ventilation and improve passenger comfort.

The recent arrival of a new batch of buses "the majority for the M-1 route that serves the sprawling Havana suburb of Alamar" has improved transportation for the population on the eastern side of the city. Nonetheless, the sealed windows they came with and the high temperatures in Cuba are incompatible.

Nestor Alonso, a quality control official at the citys Metrobus Company, said the supplier did not meet the contract obligation stipulating windows that opened and closed.

Alonso said the substitution program is a joint effort of the ministries of Transport, Iron-Steel Industry and Basic Industry. He said the materials needed have been made available to begin the effort, prioritizing those buses with the least ventilation starting with the M-1 line.

A total of 244 buses in Havana have ventilation problems, plus more than 50 that service Alamar. The process of changing the windows will be gradual, noted Alonso.

Miguel Angel Hernandez Acosta, director of COMEG, told Granma that this weekend the first three buses had their windows replaced and will soon be back in service.

He said that work will be done as fast as possible taking into account that the hot summer months are approaching.

The aluminum window frames and the rubber gaskets are being supplied by the Lenin, Sime, Conrado Pina firms and the Ministry of Basic Industry. Other resources, such as glass, are imported. The windows of old buses no longer in service are also being recycled.

Source: Granma